Tag Archives: Hardwood Paroxysm

After dropping that Luc Longley shrimp-naming story in your laps this morning, I now feel somewhat vindicated … but guilt remains about the lack of activity on BTPH last week. I swear it wasn’t just lethargy though. Been busy other places.

I guess that’s it, other than a bunch of other Pacers stuff you can’t possibly be interested in. Might be slow around here for a couple more days, but I will have something more on Casspi eventually and something on Donald Sterling, which is already long overdue.

It’s weird that I like Omri Casspi so much cause, normally, I hate Jews.

The NBA season is once again upon us and it has come to my attention that many of you don’t waste your summers following NBA trades and free agent movement. So after seeing guys like Shaq in Cleveland, Artest in LA, Ariza in Houston and Matrix in Dallas, many of you have emailed me saying “When that happen, bro?” And the Australians among yall are all “WTF, mate?”

Well, mates, a lot of players relocated this summer. There is some very basic science out there supporting that. Trust me, pal. It’s actually a fact — it’s not even science.

We’ll continue to bring you up to speed with the best hard-hitting, postcard analysis you’ve come to expect from BTPH throughout the week, but in the meantime, listen to the most recent episode of The 8th Seed podcast to acclimate yourself with the new NBA landscape.

In other “Shit Yeah, The NBA Has Returned” news, be sure to watch the season premiere of The Basketball Jones, check Zach Harper’s Bustin’ a Recap to learn about all the opening night action you may have missed, and, if you really have way to much time on your hands, read “Too Many Words About the NBA: Preview Edition,” a rambling, oft-humorous, fairly informative chat session between me and the other Hardwood Paroxymers (Matt, Rob, Corn, Zach, Kyle and Trey).

Moore has an Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade line in there that is amazing. First one to find it and then return here with the quote in the comments wins a pony.*

As you may have heard, Michael Jordan is widely considered a Hall of Fame-caliber basketball player. And in about two weeks, on September 11, Springfield will make it official by inaugurating him into the Hall. To ensure people don’t forget who Jordan was, the museum’s curators have even gone so far as to partner with Jordan Brand to put together an exhibit that will run through the rest of 2009 called “Becoming Legendary: The Michael Jordan Story.”

Unfortunately, they have made it a countdown where you can only see those videos that have been released already, meaning that you can only watch moments number 23, 22, 2 and 20 as of today. But the videos do come along with written commentary from the likes of Coach Bobby Cremins, whose Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets got lit up for 39 by Jordan in Greensboro, North Carolina, in 1983 for moment #23, and Joe Dumars, who got lit up by Jordan many, many times and had to watch helplessly from the ground as MJ drilled a 30-foot, game-winning three over him in 1992 for moment #20.

Writes Dumars:

It was only a matter of whether I’d be able to force him into a tough shot. I did. He was so far behind the 3-point line, but that wasn’t enough.

Keep your head up, Joe. You certainly did better than Craig Ehlo.

I’ll be looking forward to seeing/reading the rest, and ESPN advises us to “Check back daily as new videos are released, all leading up to his induction into the Basketball Hall of Fame.”

Slam magazine, too, is all about Jordan this month with a full issue dedicated to him that’s aptly titled “Slam Presents: Jordan.” I bought this “Hall of Fame Tribute” that’s “100% Mike” the other day and, while it’s nice to have all this stuff bound together in one place, avid Slam readers will soon realize that it is mostly just rehashed coverage from the past. It’s all good though, since we get to read some classic pieces from former editors @RussBengston and Scoop Jackson as well as relive some old Slamadamonths and “walk down memory lane” (wait for it…) in a feature that breaks down all the Air Jordan “sneakers” (…there it is) from I-XX3. (The piece is similar to Nike’s online timeline of Air Jordans, but even though it doesn’t have the cool interactiveness of the corporate spot, it does have some nice factoids and descriptions that you probably won’t hear about as succinctly elsewhere.) All told, this “Special Collector’s Issue” is probably worth your $7.99 — particularly if you haven’t previously read all the pieces that Scoop and Russ did back when Mike was actually playing. (And if you still have $24.99 left over, buy the Ultimate Jordan DVD collection. It’s the best value I’ve ever gotten out of a sports DVD set other than this one about Muhammad Ali.)

While it’s great that all this stuff is out there, fear not, sports fans; Springfield, Bristol and the Slam Dome aren’t the only ones getting in on the predictable commemoration/coronation/nostalgiation of the man widely viewed as the best to ever lace em up. Yours truly is also writing about the one they call Air Jordan aka MJ aka Money aka Hir Airness aka Johnny Kilroy aka Motorboat Jones aka Superman (?) aka Mike … … Okay. Wait? What? Basketball-Reference actually lists “Mike” as an official nickname for the man on its Michael Jordan page? That seems like overkill, particularly when the well-known, French point guard in San Antonio whose full name you probably don’t even know (William Anthony Parker) doesn’t even get a “Tony” mention. (Nor is there a “Fiery Francophile,” a “Parisian Torpedo” or a “Main Butter & Egg Man” mention, it should be noted. Watch this video if that previous sentence understandably makes no sense.)

It’s about how even if someday someone somehow comes along who is better at the sport of basketball than Mike, it will be very hard to convince anyone of that fact given that we all lived through MJ’s perfect career trajectory and are still experiencing the expanding mythos of MJ everyday. For evidence, see all the stuff discussed above. Keep in mind, however, that in no way is any of this at all intended to be disparaging to the G.O.A.T.; the post is just talking about how it will be nearly impossible to ever change the perception of perfection that is so deeply ingrained into our collective fan psychology.

Whoa. Sorry for all those polysyllabic words. I blacked out for a minute. Will not happen again.

Hey, guys. It’s me: The dude who used to write regularly here at Both Teams Played Hard prior to his mysterious vanishing.

Usually, when I make an extended and unannounced disappearance, it’s just due to laziness, disinterest, a whiskey binge or my real job taking up too much time. (I’m a freelance ninja.) This time, however, I have actually been busy doing some other basketball writing-related things that you might perhaps care about.

There are three of them to be specific:

#1. The main thing I’ve been doing is launching a blog about the Indiana Pacers called “Eight Points, Nine Seconds,” which is so new that it still has that new website smell. As some of you know, I’m a Pacers fan. So when the folks who run ESPN’s TrueHoop Network of NBA blogs approached me with the idea of starting a site about my beloved Pacers, it was a proposition that I figured I had to accept. They are the Worldwide Leader and all. Of course, it’s not like I’m working for ESPN, only managing an blog affiliated with their network, but there are very few people in this world who write about the Pacers with any visibility and/or skill, so it should give me an opportunity to gain a marginally higher profile as I suffer through my Pacer fandom, which is something I would have been doing non-publicly anyway.

So, if you have any interest in the Pacers, stop by and check that out. Although, on the rare occasion when I actually write something over there that (a) may interest a general NBA fan, and (b) is actually decent, I’ll probably link to it from here anyway. (You can also follow both @8pts9secs and @TrueHoopNetwork on Twitter or become a THN fan on Facebook.)

#2. I am also now writing semi-regularly (weekly-ish is the plan) at Hardwood Paroxysm, a general NBA blog that, unlike Both Teams Played Hard, a lot of people are actually aware exists. My column is called “Off the Iron,” and they ran the first one today. (I’m biased, but it’s not half-bad and discusses the Lakers possibly foolish/possibly genius idea to choose Artest over Ariza as well as the Magic’s possibly foolish/possibly genius idea to choose Vince over Hedo).

Check back over there regularly to find my stuff, as well as the even better stuff written by Matt Moore, Rob Mahoney, Jon Nichols, The Corndog, Zach Harper and the rest of the HP gang. They’re cool dudes.

#3. This hasn’t actually taken up a huge amount of time but, as announced a few weeks ago, I’m doing a monthly podcast with seven other NBA bloggers called “The 8th Seed.” The second episode “aired” the other day and you can listen to it in all its unholy glory over at Red’s Army. If you have alopecia or autism, let me apologize in advance for the company I keep.

Now that all that’s out of the way, I know what all three of my loyal readers are thinking: “Neato…but WTF does this mean for the future of Both Teams Played Hard?”

The answer, in short, is hopefully: Very little.

Someday in the future, it would be nice if I could just write all my NBA thoughts here. That day will likely never come completely and these other ventures to increase my exposure and write about some different things (i.e., the Pacers) will probably always have to continue. But, regardless, I plan to keep updating this site very regularly for the foreseeable future.

As the season starts in November, my responsibility to these other ventures might mean there won’t be quite as many humorous videos posted and there probably will be fewer days where there are five or six seperate posts. But talking about the entire Association is still my preferred way of writing about basketball, so I will definitely be here chronicling my version of the 2009-10 season in some form or another.

Time constraints could mean the content on this site will take the form of fewer, longer posts or it might mean that rather than putting up three or four seperate posts on light-hearted, ephemeral stories, I might combine them all into one super-Voltron update for the day, but I fully plan to still be plugging away here every day. That much I can assure you of. And, hopefully, having to creatively put things together in less time will also lead to more unique and, ultimately, better ways of sharing perspectives and stories with you. I already have a few ideas in that vein that I think you will enjoy.

Other than that and a general plan of “No More Sleep for Me,” that’s all I know for now.

The summer is (and was anyway) going to be a little slower round these parts — there just won’t be much going on in NBA after this free agency period ends in another week or two. But I’ll still be checking in several times a week at least, if not everyday, to bullshit witcha. (There should be every day updates throughout the summer over at Eight Points, Nine Seconds, however, if you simply need to hear me ramble on about borderline Pacers news.)

It’s also possible I might recruit a few other people to write some stuff around here to help keep things flowing regularly. We’ll see about that. (Email me if you or someone you love would like to apply. Contact info is on the right somewhere.)

All in all, busy times for me. But, hopefully, productive times as well. And, eventually, I’m confident that all this extracuricular activity and carousing around with others will lead to better things back here at home.